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UWP: Control won't fit to the available view area of my Grid cell

I am working on a Phone Dialer UWP application for Windows Mobile devices. In searching for dialer examples, I came across the PhoneCall sample that is bundled with Windows Universal Samples at https://github.com/Microsoft/Windows-universal-samples. The PhoneCall sample contains an example implementation of Dialer and a DialerPanel, complete with a text box to display or edit the number being typed, as well as the Call button. So far so good.
However, the sample dialer panel is hosted as a PivotItem in a tabbed interface implemented by MainPage.xaml, and it occupies the entire space available to it.
What I am looking for is something like a DialerPanel in the sample, but one that could shrink to fit in my Grid cell. I will have the available space split into two Grid cells, with the upper half occupying a custom control or an image, while the lower half will host the Dial Pad.
In my attempt to accomplish what I need, I modified the sample DialerPanel.xaml as follows:
I created a new outer Grid with two rows, each taking up 50% of the available space.
In the upper row, I added a rectangle with a fill of "Light Yellow"
In the lower row, I added the original Dialer Panel layout contained in a Grid (basically, I moved the ORIGINAL Grid into a Grid cell at Row 1, Column 0.
Below is the image of my XAML outline (with certain blocks collapsed for clarity):
Here's the XAML:
<UserControl
x:Class="PhoneCall.Controls.DialerPanel"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="using:PhoneCall.Controls"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Background="{ThemeResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Rectangle Fill="LightYellow" Grid.Row="0"/>
<Grid Grid.Row="1">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0">
<local:LinePicker Margin="0,20,0,0"/>
<Grid Style="{StaticResource DigitViewGridStyle}">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ScrollViewer x:Name="dialerNumberControlScrollviewer"
Grid.Column="0"
Style="{StaticResource DigitViewScrollerStyle}">
<TextBlock Style="{StaticResource DigitViewTextStyle}"
SizeChanged="OnDialerNumberControlSizeChanged"
Text="{Binding DialerPhoneNumber.NumberToDial, Mode=OneWay}">
</TextBlock>
</ScrollViewer>
<Button Grid.Column="1"
Command="{Binding ProcessBackspace}"
IsEnabled="{Binding DialerPhoneNumber.DialPadEnabled, Mode=OneWay}"
Holding="OnBackspaceHolding">
<FontIcon FontFamily="Segoe MDL2 Assets" Glyph="" FontSize="30"/>
</Button>
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Grid.RowSpan="2" VerticalAlignment="Bottom">
<StackPanel Style="{StaticResource DialpadPanelStyle}">
<local:Dialpad x:Name="Dialpad"/>
<Button IsEnabled="{Binding DialerPhoneNumber.DialPadEnabled, Mode=OneWay}"
Style="{StaticResource AccentLongButtonStyle}"
Command="{Binding ProcessDialDialerNumberHeap}" >
<Button.ContentTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<FontIcon FontFamily="Segoe MDL2 Assets" Glyph="" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5">
<FontIcon.RenderTransform>
<CompositeTransform ScaleX=".75" ScaleY=".75"/>
</FontIcon.RenderTransform>
</FontIcon>
<TextBlock Text="Call"
Grid.Row="1"
Style="{StaticResource CaptionTextBlockStyle}"
Margin="0,4,0,0"
LineHeight="14"
HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</Button.ContentTemplate>
</Button>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
When I build the app with the changes above and run the sample, this is how it appears on the phone with my rectangle covering the Dial Pad:
I tried a couple of things including reduced fixed width and height for the Dialer Panel, but I could not make it work.
A couple of questions:
1. What am I doing wrong here and how can I fix it?
2. Is there a third party DialPad control (free or paid) that I can reference in my project and just use it?
Thanks for all your help!

I think the problem is in this line:
<StackPanel Grid.RowSpan="2" VerticalAlignment="Bottom">
This stack panel starts in row 0 where you the put
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0">
Can you try this?
<StackPanel Grid.Row="2" VerticalAlignment="Bottom">

WPF adds black bar to Window

I have built a WPF application with a variable width and height (xaml height and width definition for the window is set to Auto). Once the contents of the window are loaded, the width does not (well, is not supposed to) change. The height might change as items are removed or added from the list.
The background is a gradient, not an image.
After a period where the application is idling and isn't the top-most, when switching back to the application, the window is wider as a black bar was added, extending the window to the right.
.
(Before this black bar appears, the window's width is the section with the blue gradient background)
I've added a hidden menu item to the window and when the user presses Alt the menu appears. At first, I simply added the menu and opening it caused the window to re-render as menu the item suddenly became visible and added to the window's height. As the window was re-rendered, the black bar disappeared and the window was its original width.
I tried the following solutions by adding an event where Window.OnFocus calls a function which:
changes the width (adds 1 pixel and then removes 1 pixel)... but this doesn't seem to do anything.
checks the width of the window. If the width is larger than the expected width, a re-render is manually called. But no dice...
What is causing this black bar to appear? How can I prevent it from happening?
The biggest problem here is that I can't seem to consistently reproduce the problem... sometimes, the application will sit open, idling in the background for the whole day and this won't happen. Sometimes, I'll go out to lunch, come back and there it is...
The content is loaded dynamically upon starting up, and there's a webservice call initiated every few minutes to check for changes. At this stage of development and testing, there aren't all that many changes happening so that the ui items are simply static most of the time. Even so, this black bar will appear at times after the application idles for a while, as mentioned.
Per suggestion, here is the xaml for the application:
MainWindow:
<Window x:Class="MyApp.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:y="clr-namespace:MyApp"
Title="MyApp"
Height="Auto" Width="390"
SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
WindowStyle="SingleBorderWindow"
WindowStartupLocation="Manual"
ResizeMode="CanMinimize">
<Grid Name="MainGrid" Style="{StaticResource Normal}">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="18" />
<RowDefinition Height="65"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" MinHeight="200"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="150" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="218" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Menu Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
[SETTINGS REMOVED FOR BREVITY]>
</Menu>
[ELEMENTS REMOVED FOR BREVITY]
<Grid Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Height="Auto" Width="Auto" x:Name="ContentGrid"></Grid>
</Grid>
</Window>
MainPanel (which goes into the ContentGrid):
<UserControl x:Class="MyApp.MainPanel"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
Height="Auto" Width="Auto" FlowDirection="RightToLeft">
<Grid Margin="19,0,19,0">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="65" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="75" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="160" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBlock Name="FirstHeader" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" Style="{StaticResource Header}" Text="***" />
<TextBlock Name="SecondHeader" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0" Style="{StaticResource Header}">***<LineBreak />***</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Name="ThirdHeader" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" Style="{StaticResource Header}" Text="***" />
<StackPanel Name="MainStack" Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" />
<Button Name="ActionButton" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" Grid.Row="2" FlowDirection="LeftToRight" Style="{StaticResource NotInService}" Click="ActionButton_Click" />
</Grid>
</UserControl>
And the MainStack in the MainPanel is filled with these:
<UserControl x:Class="MyApp.mItem"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="35" d:DesignWidth="348" FlowDirection="RightToLeft">
<Grid Margin="0,0,0,05">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="160" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Name="PanelActionButton" Style="{StaticResource PanelActionButton}" Click="PanelActionButton_Click">
<TextBlock Name="AnswerButtonText" Style="{StaticResource ButtonText}"></TextBlock>
</Button>
<Label Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Name="SecondCol" Style="{StaticResource SecondCol}" />
<Label Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="2" Name="ThirdCol" Style="{StaticResource ThirdCol}" />
</Grid>
</UserControl>
I don't know if it's pertinent, but this is the way I've styled the background:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Grid}" x:Key="Normal">
<Setter Property="Background">
<Setter.Value>
<RadialGradientBrush GradientOrigin="0.5,0.5" Center="0.5,0.5" RadiusX="1" RadiusY="1">
<RadialGradientBrush.GradientStops>
<GradientStop Color="#00AEEF" Offset="0" />
<GradientStop Color="#034ea2" Offset="1" />
</RadialGradientBrush.GradientStops>
</RadialGradientBrush>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
<Setter Property="FlowDirection" Value="RightToLeft" />
</Style>

Some suggestions:
SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
could be changed to
SizeToContent="Height"
since you also defined the width to be 390.
Besides that, check if the window with the black area is still the expected width of 390.
Although it´s not in your posted code, check if elements could extend the width with it´s content (like images, long strings, etc.).
Another thing you should consider is to carefully choose your margins and widths (and heights) since they could easily sum up.
E.g. your using
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="160" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="85" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
twice and inside grids which each have a margin.
Also have a look at the menu you´re using. Since it´s using some visibility converter, my guess is, that it might generate a menu that could be more than 390 wide.
And finally... what´s with the
FlowDirection="RightToLeft"
If there´s no real need for it, delete it :)

How to make controls fill the container in WPF?

Below is my xaml code :
<Window x:Class="ScoresBank.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow">
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top">
<ToolBar Height="25"></ToolBar>
</WrapPanel>
<WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Bottom">
<StatusBar Name="stbBottom" Height="25"
BorderThickness="2"
BorderBrush="Black">Example</StatusBar>
</WrapPanel>
<StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Left">
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top">
<Button Name="btnBrowseTags">TAGS</Button>
<Button Name="btnBrowseTitles">TITLES</Button>
</WrapPanel>
<ComboBox DockPanel.Dock="Top" Name="cbxCategory">
Example
</ComboBox>
<WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Bottom">
<TextBox Name="txtKeyword"></TextBox>
<Button Name="btnFind">Find</Button>
</WrapPanel>
<ListBox Name="lbxBrowse">
</ListBox>
</DockPanel>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Right">
<Button>Example</Button>
</StackPanel>
<Canvas>
</Canvas>
</DockPanel>
And this is my current layout view :
So, what I mean with filling the container are :
Making lbxBrowse to fill the mid-space of the DockPanel inside the left StackPanel.
Making txtKeyword to fill the WrapPanel.
Making stbBottom to fill the WrapPanel.
What I've tried :
It seems i've put them in a DockPanel with LastChildFill="True". But it seems doesn't work.
I don't know about this, since it's not possible to put it into a DockPanel first.
I don't know anything about this.
I don't use fixed size, since I need them to keep neat even when resized in multiple screen resolution. The fixed size on ToolBar and StatusBar seems required, otherwise, the text will be unseen.
P.S. If possible, I prefer the solution to be XAML code, rather than the C# code. Otherwise, C# code is fine too.
Thank you.

You should use a Grid. It is more easier to configure. Here is an example (I don't know exactly how you want to setup your layout).
<Window x:Class="SampleWpf.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="400" Width="600">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Margin="5" Content="TAGS"
Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" />
<Button Margin="5" Content="TITLES"
Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0" />
<Button Margin="5" Content="EXAMPLES"
Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0"
HorizontalAlignment="Right"/>
<ComboBox Margin="5"
Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="1" />
<ListBox Margin="5"
Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="1" Grid.RowSpan="2" />
<Button Margin="5" Content="EXAMPLE"
Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="3" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
</Grid>
</Window>
And the result:
With a grid you can set the height and the width of the columns and rows to a specific value (in points, pixels, cm, etc.), to column content (Auto) or proportional to the grid (with *).

Instead of using a StackPanel and DockPanel you can use Grid and set Grid.ColumnDefinitions and Grid.RowDefinitions. You can specify directly each row Height and each column Width. It's easier to use and it automaticly fit to content and container.

Stretch Slider to fit Grid/GridViewItem/GridView [C#, XAML]

I really need your help now. I´ve tried a few thousands solutions, but nothing worked for me. This is a part of a page built with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 for Windows. I want to make to make the Slider (named slider_1) responsive, so it should fill the rest of the page regardless the Screen Solution (cannot use fixed Heights):
<Grid Style="{StaticResource LayoutRootStyle}">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="140"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<!-- Back button and page title -->
<Grid Grid.Row="0">
.........
</Grid>
<Grid Grid.Row="1" Name="secGrid">
<GridView x:Name="source">
<GridViewItem x:Name="item_1">
<Grid x:Name="container_1">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="*"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="0" x:Name="name_1" Height="39" Text="123"></TextBlock>
<Button Grid.Row="1" x:Name="toggle_on_1" Content="ON"></Button>
<Slider Grid.Row="2" x:Name="slider_1" Orientation="Vertical" VerticalAlignment="center" HorizontalAlignment="center"/>
<Button Grid.Row="3" x:Name="toggle_off_1" Height="39" Content="OFF"></Button>
</Grid>
</GridViewItem>
</GridView>
</Grid>
Thought I could get it to work by binding the Height of the Slider to the ActualHeight of the "secGrid", but this is not suitable for my purpose, even if it seemed to work well in combination with a converter:
<Slider Grid.Row="2" x:Name="slider_1" Orientation="Vertical" VerticalAlignment="center" HorizontalAlignment="center" Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=secGrid}"/>
Tried to set VerticalAligment/VerticalContentAligment to "Stretch", but it did not work.
Its important that it is responsive to other Screen Solutions.
Can anybody help me? Do I have to use another type of Element besides the inner Grid named container_1? This is driving me crazy....
PS: Sorry for mistakes in language. I´m german :)

Your Auto sizing grid creates problem for slider scaling as Auto means "size to row content", and * means "size proportional to grid".
Auto means that a row is given as much height as the elements within it require.
The height of * sized row is calculated by allocating space for the auto, and fixed height rows, and then dividing up the remaining space.
below code works fine if I set height to rowdefination 2 or if I set height to grid
<Grid>
<GridView x:Name="source">
<GridViewItem x:Name="item_1" >
<Grid x:Name="container_1">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="100"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="auto"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="0" x:Name="name_1" Height="39" Text="123"></TextBlock>
<Button Grid.Row="1" x:Name="toggle_on_1" Content="ON"></Button>
<Slider Grid.Row="2" x:Name="slider_1" Orientation="Vertical" HorizontalAlignment="center"/>
<Button Grid.Row="3" x:Name="toggle_off_1" Height="39" Content="OFF"></Button>
</Grid>
</GridViewItem>
</GridView>
</Grid>

How to create a button that will increase its width depending on the amount of text in it?

I have a WPF window with a button on it. I want the button to increase or decrease in width depending on its text. How can I do this?

Just set the Width property to Auto and give an HorizontalAlignment (Center, Rightor Left), because its default value is Stretch, and this cause to Fill its container.
Here is an example on how it works:
CODE
<Window x:Class="StackOverflow.WPF.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Content="A Default Button"/>
<Button Content="An Auto Width Button"
Width="Auto"
HorizontalAlignment="Center"
Grid.Column="1"/>
<Button Content="An Auto Width and Height Button"
Width="Auto" Height="Auto"
HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Center"
Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
OUTPUT

I you don^t set a fixed width to your button, it will already adapt its width to its content.